Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be offering its annual Festival of Christmas Past on December 8. Co-sponsored by the park and Great Smoky Mountains Association, this will be the 37th edition of the festival that takes place each year on the second Saturday of December.

I really didn’t know exactly what to expect when I pulled up to the first overlook at Black Canyon. But when I walked to the edge of the canyon at Tomichi Point and looked down, the only thing I could think was "Oh, my goodness!"

Having a cabin with a roaring fire to return to after a long day in a national park is a great way to top off the day. And in Olympic National Park, you'll be able to do that weekends this winter if you can reserve one of the Roosevelt Cabins at Lake Crescent.

Ghost stories and old buildings just seem to go together, and the national parks have their share of old buildings -- and ghosts! If you spend a night at The Chateau at Oregon Caves National Monument, you just might agree.

Once upon a time not so long ago, all roads leading to Natural Bridges National Monument were dirt. Only the hardiest of visitors ventured out here. But now the roads are firmly paved and it’s a sort of main route between Lake Powell and points north down toward Monument Valley and Four Corners.

Ghostly encounters aren't commonplace in the National Park System, but then, they're not unheard of, either, as we'll point out in a series of stories this week. The first is from Voyageurs National Park.

They are called "ghost trains," but in truth they are simply old trains decaying on railroad sidings. And from November 4 through the end of the year you'll be able to enjoy some fantastic photos of these trains by Kathryn Scott Adams at Steamtown National Historic Site.

Fall is an incredible time to hike in a national park. Deciduous forests are shucking their leafy mantles, wildlife is more visible, temperatures are moderate, if not cold, and the mountains and meadows are beckoning. Just make sure you go properly prepared.

Sure, kids are back in school, the days have grown shorter, and in some places there's a decided bite in the air. But that doesn't mean you should ignore visiting a national park park. Here are 10 (or more) reasons to help you head to the parks in the months to come.

True, the year-end holidays are a ways off yet, but the lights on the National Christmas Tree in Washington will be turned on December 6, and if you want to be there in person it's time to start planning.

Though it's surrounded by development, cross into Shenandoah National Park and you'll find a surprisingly large amount of acreage that is managed as wilderness and which appears much as it did 100, or even 200 years ago. This weekend you can celebrate that wild setting during the park's annual "Wilderness Weekend."

Fall colors are starting to hit their stride in the East, with colorful displays from Acadia National Park down into Alabama and Mississippi. If you live in the South, a ride along the Natchez Trace Parkway will offer you a kaleidoscope of fall foliage.

Visitors to Mesa Verde National Park this weekend will get a bonus if they stop by the Far View Lodge, where painter Jan Wright will be exhibiting water colors of the park she did while serving as Mesa Verde's artist-in-residence.